


For We Have Made An End

by Nevcolleil



Series: Paint by Numbers [1]
Category: Inception (2010), White Collar
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 06:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13564461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: Arthur likes rules. He doesn’t always follow them, of course, but he likes having them.Neal doesn’t mess with Arthur’s rules. They‘re the only rules Neal follows. Primarily because most of them are simple (like ‘When your brother calls, you answer‘, Rule Number Five) or common sense (like ‘Never date your brother‘s exes‘, Rule Number Seventeen).Neal’s never broken one of Arthur’s rules, in fact. He can’t say that about any man’s laws (or God’s) but he can say it about his twin brother’s.The rules are so sacrosanct that sometimes Neal and Arthur communicate using just numbers.





	1. For We Have Made An End

Arthur likes rules. He doesn’t always follow them, of course, but he likes having them. He likes knowing his boundaries even when he has absolutely no intention of respecting them. He’s somewhat anal about things like that, actually. 

Neal’s always ribbing on him for it.

He makes fun of Arthur’s lists. When he wants to get under Arthur’s skin, he messes with Arthur’s filing system. One time, Neal went into Arthur’s laptop and alphabetized Arthur’s custom-ordered document folders and it pissed Arthur off so bad that he burned one of Neal’s suits.

But Neal doesn’t mess with Arthur’s rules. They‘re the only rules Neal follows. Primarily because most of them are simple (like ‘ _When your brother calls, you answer_ ‘, Rule Number Five) or common sense (like ‘ _Never date your brother‘s exes_ ‘, Rule Number Seventeen).

Neal’s never broken one of Arthur’s rules, in fact. He can’t say that about any man’s laws (or God’s) but he can say it about his twin brother’s.

The rules are so sacrosanct that sometimes Neal and Arthur communicate using just numbers. 

“Twenty-six,” Neal said, after a kid at school blackened his eye.

Arthur looked at the bruised, swollen flesh on Neal’s face like he’d seen the Easter bunny; like he couldn’t imagine someone hurting Neal, and it was unnatural that someone had. (Their father didn’t count. He wasn’t ‘someone’ - he was the devil - and he never hit them where someone might see.)

Then Arthur’s eyes went hot and his face went blank, and Neal could see him killing that poor kid as clearly as if Arthur had said that he was going to kill him. 

“Neal-” Arthur froze, mid-stride out of the room, as soon as Neal said it.

“Rule Number Twenty-six-”

Arthur called Neal on his shit, always, immediately. “There’s no such thing.”

“I just made it up,” Neal told him, in his best ‘ _this is just the way it is_ ‘ voice. “Rule Number Twenty-six: ‘ _When I ask you to, you back off._ ‘” That kid was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve Arthur’s wrath, which was less like an adolescent’s anger than a curved blade‘s, honed by a lifetime under the same roof as their father and sharpened daily. Besides, Neal _had_ made out with the kid’s girlfriend, so maybe he’d sorta deserved it.

“Thirty-three,” Arthur told Neal, three years later, as soon as Neal picked up the phone. 

Neal was climbing into a cab, his date for the evening waiting inside, and Neal’s smiling face fell. “How- Are you kidding me?”

Neal let the cab driver wait for him. Let his date wait.

“ _How_?” Arthur repeated. And he laughed. “Neal, please. And I don’t kid about Thirty-three.”

‘ _Never date someone married. The complications aren’t worth it._ ’ A man almost shot Arthur, once, for fooling around with his wife. Didn’t matter that Arthur hadn’t known she was married. He does background checks now, on all of his partners. They probably think it’s creepy (if they find out about it) but Neal was not surprised when ‘ _Always do a background check_ ‘ became Rule Number Thirty-five.

“Oh, yeah?” Neal couldn’t help snarking. His date was _really_ hot. Really. “And how’s that going for you? Still pining over D-”

“It’s a rule, Neal,” Arthur said calmly.

Neal debated the merits of hanging up and getting into that cab anyhow. Arthur might not know if he- Okay, yeah, Arthur would definitely know if Neal broke Rule Number Thirty-three, but he’d forgive Neal. Neal didn’t even consider lying. He and Arthur don’t lie to one another.

Neal closed the cab door and walked away.

Forgiveness isn’t the point.

Neal was in a courthouse when he had to tell Arthur, “Nineteen.” Arthur’s eyes were suspiciously bright. Neal was hiding the slight shake in his hand. He had to get Arthur out of there before those eyes went hot or someone walked into the bathroom. It’s the only time they’ve ever spoken of the rule without laughing. 

“Rule Number 19: ‘ _Actions have consequences,_ ‘” Arthur said ten years before, smirking, as Neal held the scorched ruins of his second-favorite suit. 

“Don’t do this, man,” Arthur begged. “Let me help you.”

“I can’t,” Neal replied, willing Arthur to understand. “I have to stay.”

“What? For _her_? She won’t wait for you, Neal. _Please_.”

“She’s tired of running,” Neal said. And because he and Arthur don’t lie to one another, he didn’t say ‘we’re’.

Before that, Arthur had always gotten along with Kate. As far as Neal knows, Arthur never spoke to her after that. He wonders sometimes, now that Kate’s gone, if Arthur regrets it, but he’s never asked. 

Arthur left the courthouse then and Neal returned to the courtroom… and got sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison. 

“I’ll cut my anklet if I have to.” It’s the only way Neal knows of making Peter understand how serious he is about this. “He’s my brother, Peter. I have to do this.”

“Before today, you never even mentioned having a brother,” Peter reminds him. Neal catches, but doesn’t have time to address, the implications of his words. “And I can’t let you get away.”

Neal thought Peter might say that. He thought of just doing this - shucking his anklet and going off on his own - without a word, but some crazy hopeful part of Neal thought maybe Peter would help them instead.

Peter would like Arthur, Neal thinks, if he met him. Vincent told Neal he was the closest thing to a son that the man had ever had, and all Neal could think was, ‘ _I agree_.’ Neal’s experiences with fathers has only ever been one of disappointment and pain. But sometimes, around Peter and Elizabeth… Neal feels-

Arthur would like Peter, too, if they met. And some crazy hopeful part of Neal has to try for the possibility that one day they can.

“You’ll have to shoot me or sedate me, but if Arthur dies because I wasn’t there-” The panic Neal has been fighting so hard to keep down rises up and all but strangles him. Arthur didn’t call. Arthur’s friend, the Englishman, called Neal three days ago and said that Arthur had been taken, but Arthur hasn’t called.

Rule Number Four: ‘ _When you’re in trouble - so long as you got a mouth to speak and fingers to dial - you_ call _your brother_.’

Arthur wouldn’t break one of his own rules. He’s somewhat anal about things like that.

Now that Neal knows where Arthur is being held, he _has_ to go to him.

Peter’s face has softened. “Neal…”

“I promise, Peter, I’ll be back in the office Monday morning if I make it back alive-”

“ _If_ you make it-”

“Neal!”

Neal faces Peter’s and Elizabeth’s twin expressions of dawning horror somber and sorry but resolved.

“You don’t have to do anything, but I’m kinda hoping to have something to make it back to.”

Peter and Elizabeth both call his name as he leaves.

He’s at the very edge of his two-mile radius when the light on his anklet switches, tellingly, off. Neal smiles and goes to call Mozzie, to let him know he’s coming.

Neal’s phone buzzes in his hand. Two new text messages, and Neal’s heart thumps. One is from the Englishman - Eames.

It says: _Ur brother crazy. Fuck the danger. Dom n I still going in. You?_

The other is from an unknown number. It says, only: ’ _26_.’

Neal doesn’t have to think about it. He texts Eames: ‘ _On my way_.’

When everything is over and done, he’ll write on one of Arthur’s casts: _Rule Number 101: Sometimes Rule Number 26 is stupid. That’s why you don’t let your brother make rules._

Arthur will say, “Rule Number 102: _Shut up_ “ which Neal will translate to mean “Thank you.”

When he and Peter finally leave the office Monday evening, he’ll call and Arthur will finally be ready to say it the right way.

He’ll start off the conversation by saying “Two.” Neal and Arthur always forgive one another.

It’s a rule.


	2. The Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back when I was writing these ficlets, I offered to fill in some of the unknown spots in this list as requested by readers. Mostly I wrote for the fabulous tigriswolf, who inspired all of my paint-by-numbers fics.

1\. Follow your brother's rules because your brother loves you.

2\. Always forgive your brother.

3\. Check for broken bones, then laugh. Or plan vengeance. Whichever is warranted.

4\. When you're in trouble - so long as you got a mouth to speak and fingers to dial - you call your brother.

5\. When your brother calls, you answer.

6\. Run ideas by each other before acting. Or plan everything together. That works, too.

7\. If your brother thinks it's a stupid idea, he probaly has a point.

8\. Only fight your brother's battles for him when he cannot fight.

9\. Always check for weapons.

10\. No using secrets or childhood scars during fights.

11\. Pretending to be each other DOES NOT work.

12\. Athur lacks the finesse for most sleight-of-hand cons.

13\. Neal couldn't fight his way out of a paperbag without Arthur, but let's see him and his "finesse" give it a shot.

14\. Okay, I'm sorry. Everyone has a certain skill set. Stop bitching and let your brother do his job.

15\. If it matters to you, it matters to me.

16.

17\. Never date your brother's exes.

18\. ...or his friends.

19\. Actions have consequences.

20\. We're not allowed to sacrifice ourselves for each other.

21.No, really. Don't do it.

22\. Keep your brother away from Tijuana, Mexico.

23\. Also: Hong Kong, Rio de Janiero and Tangiers (at least til the heat dies down.)

24.

25.

26\. When I ask you to, you back off.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33\. Never date someone married. The complications aren't worth it.

35\. Always do a background check.

36\. And triple-check the background checks.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62\. Don't piss off/scare/upset your brother for no good reason.

63.

(64. - 100 are also open)

101\. Sometimes Rule Number 26 is stupid.

102\. Shut up. (and thank you.)


End file.
